Horribly corked! Experiment time, I’d heard that polythene bags (not sure PE or PP) can remove TCA – so stuffed a clear bag into the bottle and recorked – next day TCA was gone! Truly amazing but as I had no vacuvin the wine was oxidised instead…

Deep cherry red colour. Beautiful pure red fruits on the nose – raspberry and deep red cherry. A deep, concentrated cherry palate too – this is gorgeous – lovely acidity and nice tannins that finish with a little graininess. Long and creamy finish with super length. Excellent.

Almost as deep colour as the 2001 – still cherry red. Compared to the 2001 the nose starts a little more diffuse, however, given aeration a really penetrating cherry note comes through, overlaying a little cream. Really silky mouthfeel and lovely concentration, despite this, there’s a little of the 2001’s vibrancy missing – which you don’t notice if you taste them the other way round! I prefer the previous wine, but only by a degree of course, this is still very good.

Similar colour to the 2000. The nose is quite reserved but similar style to how the 2000 develops. The palate shows perfectly delineated red fruits with fine acidity. There’s more than enough concentration to buffer the tannins. Despite the reserved presentation this is a 1999 that you could drink today but that would be such a waste. The flavours linger beautifully

Perhaps a little deeper colour than the previous wines, still cherry at the rim. Just a little more complexity on the nose, there’s a musky undergrowth to the cherry and raspberry fruit. The tannins are more drying – in fact very drying – but they are finely grained. Given the texture and concentration of the fruit I’m not really concerned about the tannins – though I think you will always know they are there. The finish is a good one, there’s even an unusual orange note. A concentrated, interesting and very young wine.

The shade is less deep than the 1998 – closer to that of the other wines – just fading a little at the rim. The nose is (for the first time) quite earthy, takes some aeration to coax the fruit from the glass, when it comes it’s a little more roasted than the other wines, a cherry tart rather than fresh cherries. A lovely fat and luxurious palate. Pure extract of fruit – no roast notes here. The tannins are very well covered by the extract. This wine is enchantingly long with flavours that go on and on, perhaps even better than the 1999.

This was the first year for elevage of Griotte by René Leclerc. Medium-plus colour, fading to amber at the rim. The nose starts a little diffuse, With extra aeration the wine gives up a creamy red fruit compote set against a faintly earthy background. Silky texture with good acidity and fine mouth coating tannin. The concentration is still in the ascendant. Just starting to come into it’s drinking window. A lovely Griotte and another very fine 1994